SA-bound Slovenia leave top player out

Blaz Kavcic, the top ranked Slovenian player has not been named in the four man Slovenian team to face South Africa next weekend in their crucial Europe/Africa Zone Group 2 second round Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Tie.

 The tie to be played from 7-9 April 2017, staged at the Irene Country Club, Pretoria.

 Kavcic’s exclusion in the nominated team named by Tennis Slovenia on Wednesday should be welcome news for KIA South African team Captain Marcos Ondruska and his squad as Kavcic posed a big threat to the South Africans. The talented right hander spent most of 2015 ranked in the world’s top 100 and has been ranked as high as 68. Kavcic this year reached three tournament finals.

 The team named by Slovenia is ; Grega Zemlja, Tomislav Ternar, Mike Urbanija and Tilen Zitnik with Blaz Trupej as the non-playing captain.

 Tennis Slovenia have not yet stated the reason for Blaz Kavcic not being nominated.

 Ondruska named his four man team last week as Lloyd Harris, Nik Scholtz, Ruan Roelofse and Raven Klaasen. Originally Ondruska also named Tucker Vorster as part of his squad and Ondruska confirmed that Vorster would still travel to South Africa as part of the South African outfit. Junior Sipho Montsi will also be joining the KIA South African squad in Pretoria.

 “The rules in Davis Cup are that 10 days before the tie you have to name no more than four players to the International Tennis Federation (ITF)” said Ondruska. “Vorster may not have been named on Tuesday but he still  can be named to play as according to Davis Cup regulations, two changes may be made up until 1 hour prior to the Draw, which is Thursday next week at 10:00 (09:00 is the deadline for the changes). This applies to Slovenia as well and top player Blaz Kavcic could still be included in their team” continued Ondruska.

 The teams nominated are;

South Africa

Lloyd Harris (singles: 274, doubles: 777)

Nik Scholtz (singles: 316, doubles: 503)

Ruan Roelofse (doubles: 168)

Raven Klaasen (doubles: 10)

Captain: Marcos Ondruska

Slovenia

Grega Zemlja (singles:762, doubles:764)

Tomislav Ternar (singles: 789 , doubles: 1326)

Mike Urbanija (singles: 855)

Tilen Zitnik (doubles: 1442)

Captain: Blaz Trupej

 Slovenia are ranked 44 with South Africa ranked 56 on the Davis Cup world rankings. Slovenia are seeded two and South Africa eight in the Euro/Africa Zone 2.

This is the third time the two nations will be playing each other. The head to head score between both nations is 1-1.

 Programme for the tie:

Friday 7 April: 14h45: Opening Ceremony. The first singles rubber will start at 15h00 with the second rubber following immediately thereafter.

Saturday 8 April: 15h00: Doubles rubber

Sunday 9 April: 11h00: First reverse singles rubber, followed by final singles rubber.

All the rubbers are played as the best of 5 sets until a result has been achieved. The first team to win three rubbers is declared the tie winners.